Dubai, 8 February, 2015 –
Thailand expects to enjoy a steady increase in international visitor
numbers and revenue in the first quarter of this year, following a
strong growth in January and a host of favourable factors, including a
high demand from the China market for the Chinese New Year holiday
period and the tireless effort by the kingdom’s tourism stakeholders to
attract more tourists.
Photo file: Chinese tourists in Pattaya.
In January 2015,
Thailand welcomed a total of 2.65 million foreign tourists and generated
about 120 billion Baht in revenue, representing a year-on-year increase
of 15.9 per cent and 12.7 per cent, respectively.
H.E. Kobkarn
Wattanavrangkul, Minister of Tourism and Sports said, “The strong
performance in January can be attributed to the significant growth in
tourist arrivals at international airports throughout the kingdom, with
China being the largest market. We expect to continue to enjoy a steady
increase in the first quarter, especially in February due to the high
demand from the China market during this coming Lunar New Year.”
H.E. Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul
Thailand is home to
the world’s largest Chinatown (in Yaowarat, Bangkok), which is also the
location for the nation’s biggest Chinese New Year celebrations. But
travellers are also invited to enjoy a rich and diverse cultural mix of
festivities that take place at key destinations up and down the kingdom,
including Phuket, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ratchaburi, Phetchaburi, Trang,
Suphan Buri, Nakhon Sawan, Songkhla (Hat Yai), Ayutthaya, Chon Buri
(Pattaya), and Chiang Mai.
To ensure a steady
growth for Thailand’s tourism, the Thai government is working on a
number of policies and strategies to attract international visitors to
visit the kingdom and to encourage Thai people to take more trips within
the country. They include the launch of the “2015 Discover Thainess”
campaign, as a way to promote Thailand’s natural and cultural assets
among Thais and foreigners as well as to pass on the Thai way of
happiness to international visitors.
In addition, last week, the government announced Monday, 4 May, 2015, to be an extra holiday with the objective of promoting tourism as a long holiday, from 1-5 May, would encourage Thais to travel and would boost the economy.
H.E. Kobkarn said,
“Thailand will also continue to enhance cooperation across the spectrum
of tourism to promote intra-ASEAN tourism as well as position the region
as a single tourist destination. And, along with all our ASEAN
neighbours, we will continue to forge stronger collaborations with our
global partners under the ASEAN plus China, Japan, Republic of Korea
cooperation mechanism, or the ASEAN+3 Framework.”
In order to ensure a
strong presence of Thai tourism in the global market, Thailand through
the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) will continue to be presented at
all major and important travel trade shows as well as organise regular
road shows to update on the kingdom’s tourism offers to the main and
potential markets. In January 2015, H.E. Kobkarn led Thai tourism
delegations to attend the ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) in Myanmar and FITUR
in Spain to invite travel partners, members of the media and travellers
to “Discover Thainess” in Thailand.
